Former Shakhtar Donetsk footballer Oleksandr Sopko shared his thoughts on Dynamo’s performance in European competitions under Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.
Oleksandr Sopko (photo: V. Perehnyak)— Kyiv’s Dynamo prepared very seriously for the qualification ahead of the season, pushing for good form, and several newcomers appeared, who were supposed to strengthen the squad, — Pikhalkonok, Rubchynskyi, Bragaru, and a bit later Guerrero. The team was mainly filled with our footballers. And I wouldn’t say that Dynamo was under-equipped. And if we recall the first games, when they eliminated Partizan and Rangers, it was a high level, and everyone hoped: Dynamo has revived, like in their best years, having practically two equal squads. And they started well in the Ukrainian Championship.
But it turned out that over the distance, when fatigue accumulated, and Dynamo’s game relies on good physical shape — this is their historical advantage, as soon as individual skill, the ability to play under pressure, and in a tougher schedule began to come to the forefront, that’s when problems in the game started. In such gameplay, Dynamo’s defensive issues immediately became apparent. Popov was injured, then Dyachuk broke down, and Bilovar, Tymchyk, Karavaev, Viatcharenko and Dubinchak were not distinguished by stability. There were many technical, tactical errors, more related to psychology. It was a bit surprising that the most prepared for the euro-autumn turned out to be the youngest defender Mykhavko. These games showed that the skill level of Dynamo’s defenders is clearly inferior to that of defenders from European teams.
In the UPL, when Dynamo spends 80% of the time in the opponent's half, these mistakes are not so critical. And our defenders are considered good, strong, promising, and cost a lot of money. Unfortunately, the games in European competitions showed the opposite. We saw “childish” mistakes, which are born more in the head, rather than in the legs.
After a few games, Shovkovskyi felt that things were not working out in the European competitions, so he focused on a task that is closer to his heart, which is the Ukrainian championship. After all, if they slip once or twice in the UPL, they will not catch up with the leaders. And entering spring in second place, or being tied on points with Shakhtar is very risky. So it was quite a pragmatic and logical decision from Shovkovskyi. In European games, he let all newcomers play, and those who were conditionally on the bench: Bragaru, Rubchynskyi, Mykhailenko, Voloshyn, Pikhalkonok. Meanwhile, in the domestic championship, he relied on a more experienced squad. At the same time, he solved two tasks at once. The youth was gaining European experience, while rotation allowed distributing the load not on 12-13 players, but on 18-20. This was enough, although with some effort, to achieve victories and not drop points in the domestic championship.
Most importantly, they didn’t give points to their main rivals — Shakhtar and Oleksandriya. This created a good cushion for the spring. And who will say after that that Shovkovskyi acted wrongly? Clearly, Shakhtar fans will say: too cleverly, while Dynamo fans will say: all correct, all reasonable and right, — said the expert.
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